Bolingbrook Man Arrested for Sex Trafficking of Minor

A 39-year-old Bolingbrook man was arrested earlier today on charges he recruited and forced a minor female to engage in prostitution. The arrest was announced by Robert D. Grant, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

MCKENZIE J. CARSON, also known as “Casino,” whose last known address was 200 Campbell Drive in the western suburb, was arrested early this morning at his residence by FBI special agents and local police, without incident. CARSON was charged in a criminal complaint filed last week in U.S. District Court in Chicago with one count of sexual trafficking of children by force, fraud, or coercion, which is a felony offense.

According to the complaint, CARSON has been actively recruiting young females, including minors under the age of 18, to work for him as prostitutes in and around the Chicago area since at least 2010. CARSON advertised their services over the Internet and used cellular telephones to schedule and book “dates” for the girls. CARSON is believed to have employed others to assist him with running his prostitution operation, driving the girls to motels, hotels, and other locations to meet with customers.

It is also alleged that CARSON used violence and threats of violence, including sexual assault, to force the women and young girls to work for him. One of the victims, a then-17-year-old female, was allegedly raped by CARSON and forced to perform oral sex the first time they met. Afterwards, CARSON then sent the victim out that same night to engage in prostitution.

A second victim, who was 20 years old at the time, claimed that she was beaten and raped by CARSON on numerous occasions, including once when she told CARSON that she no longer wanted to work for him.

CARSON appeared before Magistrate Judge Young B. Kim this afternoon, at which time he was formally charged. CARSON was ordered held without bond pending his next court appearance, which is scheduled for Friday at 1:30 p.m.. Until then, CARSON will be held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in Chicago. If convicted of the charge filed against him, CARSON faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years’ incarceration to a maximum of life in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

This case was investigated by a multi-agency task force, led by the Chicago FBI, and assisted by the Cook County Sheriff’s Department, the DuPage Metropolitan Enforcement Group, and the Bolingbrook, Channahon, Downers Grove, Joliet, Marseilles, Naperville, Oswego, Romeoville, Shorewood, and Westmont Police Departments.

The public is reminded that a complaint is not evidence of guilt and that all defendants in a criminal case are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Copies of the criminal complaint filed in this case are available from the Chicago FBI’s press office at (312) 829-1199.